gamegrumpsfandomcom-20200214-history
SoulCalibur II
SoulCalibur II is the thirty-seventh game played by Jon and Arin on Game Grumps VS. Episode * Game information Soulcalibur II (ソウルキャリバーII Sōrukyaribā Tsū) is a weapon-based fighting game developed by Project Soul and published by Namco and the third installment in the Soul series. The game's plot revolves around an assortment of characters, each with the goal of either destroying Soul Edge or obtaining it to achieve personal goals. It was originally released for the arcades in 2002, before being ported to GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2003. A high-definition port of the game, titled Soulcalibur II HD Online, was released for PlayStation 3 on November 19, 2013 in North America and November 20, 2013 in Europe and for Xbox 360 on November 20, 2013 worldwide. Compared to Soulcalibur, Soulcalibur II has improved graphics and introduces new characters, stages, and music. Key game engine improvements include an easier "step" and "avoid" systems, arena walls (rather than ring-out ability on all sides) and wall-specific moves, a three-step Soul Charge system, a clash system that is used when two attacks would hit each other resulting in a white flash, Guard Break attacks which put a blocking player into a post guard-impact state, just frame moves awarding additional hits to players who could time their command inputs well, and a revised Guard Impact system that removed height-based Impact moves and instead used a more unified system (high and mid attacks are countered using Repels, mid and low attacks are countered using Parries). Soulcalibur II presents the normal modes from most fighting games: Arcade, Team Battle Mode (similar to arcade, but with teams of up to eight characters and without cutscenes or endings), Time Attack (fight against the clock to gain records), Survival Battle and Training Mode. There are also "Extra" versions of these modes, intended to allow the use of the Extra Weapons. Each character has one according to their story, and are shared by groups of two (for example: Mitsurugi → Taki, Taki → Mitsurugi) with the exception of the console-exclusive characters. As in Soulcalibur, there is a "Museum", containing character artwork, various videos (like Arcade Intro or WMM intro and Ending) and Weapon Exhibition. There is also the "Profile Viewer" (to see character's stories) and "Battle Theater" (to see CPU vs CPU battles). A returning feature from Soul Edge is the inclusion of extra weapons. Instead of Soul Edge's system of different stats, this one is based on power %, defense % and special abilities (drains energy, pass through defense, etc.). Each character has 12 different weapons, from the standard (basic) weapons for 1P and 2P to the powerful "Ultimate Weapon". Each character was granted a Soul Edge version of their arms and a "Joke Weapon" with bad stats and effect, with unique and funny hit sounds. Each weapon is given a backstory in the "Weapon Gallery". Like before, some characters are granted with a third costume, purchased in Weapon Master Mode. Out of the 25 selectable characters, 13 were granted a third costume: Astaroth, Cassandra, Ivy Valentine, Mitsurugi, Nightmare, Raphael, Seung Mina, Sophitia, Taki, Talim, Voldo and Xianghua. The GameCube version's guest character Link has four costumes (green, red, blue and lavender) and Assassin, Berserker and Lizardman each have six different costumes (three color edits of their two standard costumes). The Arcade version has a unique mode called "Conquest Mode" that allows the player to pick an army, fight enemies and gain experience points, allowing it to increase the level of the selected player. "Weapon Master Mode", made in a similar fashion to Soul Edge's "Edge Master Mode" and Soulcalibur's "Mission Mode", takes the core system from "Conquest Mode" and expands upon it. This mode presents a history set in an alternate world, while the player moves in a map divided in "regions" (named after stars) and fights enemies to gain experience points (which raises the "rank" of the character) and money (which can be used to buy weapons, art, costumes and videos). The mode has 10 normal chapters, four sub-chapters and two extra chapters as well as Extra-Missions (alternate version of normal missions). The plot of the mode puts the player into the role of a swordsman searching for Soul Edge, who suddenly is faced against a powerful mad knight named Veral (who takes the form of Nightmare, then Inferno), searching for Soul Edge for his own desires. Category:Games Category:GCN Games Category:SoulCalibur II Category:Project Soul Games Category:Namco/Bandai Games Category:Fighting Games Category:Game Grumps Games Category:Game Grumps VS Games